The invention relates generally to safety apparel and more particularly to a safety helmet with visor and with a respirator half mask for protection of persons who have to work within closed, nonventilated spaces against an ambient atmosphere containing harmful substances.
A safety helmet with a removable visor has become known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,335. The prior-art safety helmet offers protection to persons who have to work within closed, nonventilated spaces against the ambient atmosphere containing harmful substances. Circumferential sealing edges, which are designed corresponding to one another, are provided at both the safety helmet shell and at the visor to seal the interior space of the safety helmet against the ambient atmosphere. To fasten the visor to the helmet shell, two flexible straps are arranged on the side at the visor, and these flaps are buttoned into fastening points at the safety helmet shell. The prior-art safety helmet is provided with breathing pressure-controlled control valves connected to a gas source, via which breathing gas is supplied to the user of the safety helmet.
It is necessary for certain types of work to arrange auxiliary means, e.g., a pivotable visor means, at the safety helmet. In prior-art safety helmets, the visor means is fastened to the safety helmet shell by means of two hinges. Such a safety helmet is shown in DE 27 21 727 C2. However, the fastening of the visor means shown in the prior-art safety helmet is impractical for safety helmets with a removable visor, because, e.g., a lowered visor means hinders the removal of the visor.
The primary object of the present invention is to improve a safety helmet of the above-described type in terms of its wear properties.
According to the invention, a safety helmet combined with a visor is provided with a detachable connection. The connection is formed by holding means located on both sides at the safety helmet shell. The holding means comprises rigid coupling hooks, which are connected to the visor, catch openings, which are located in the cheek area of the safety helmet shell and receive the coupling hooks, and hinges. A visor means or auxiliary visor is pivotable over the visor and is fastened to the hinges. The detachable connection is designed such that the visor means is connected to the visor as one assembly unit with the visor removed from the safety helmet.
The advantage of the present invention is essentially that the visor means is connected via the hinge forming an assembly unit with the visor, so that the visor can be removed from the safety helmet shell together with the visor means when the connection between the visor and the safety helmet shell is severed.
A respirator half mask, which is fastened within an opening in the visor by means of a flexible component, is advantageously provided for supplying the user of the safety helmet with breathing gas. The flexible component makes possible a lifting movement of the respirator half mask in relation to the visor in order to better adapt it to the contours of the faces of different helmet users. A so-called bellows, with which a broad range of movement can be covered, is especially suitable as a flexible component.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.